Fulham's defensive discipline under Scott Parker
Fulham's recent performances under Scott Parker have given room for hope
Although Fulham’s last 3 results have yielded only 1 point, I think they now have a fighting chance of survival in the Premier League.
Their only point in their last 3 games came at Spurs, with Scott Parker’s side scoring a late equaliser to draw 1-1. I was really impressed with their flexible 3-4-3 / 3-5-2 set up and there were some very interesting tactical concepts that led to a deserved draw.
Underpinning all of Fulham’s defensive positivity was mobility within the back 5 - Tete, Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo and Robinson are all mobile and have decent levels of pace, and this allowed their defensive actions to be aggressive, rather than just sitting in a passive low block.Here are the 4 key defensive points that I think led to the positive performance.
Half space blockage
Central compactness
High pressure on the build up
Height of the defensive line
Half space blockage
A big feature of Spurs’ attack this season has been their attackers’ occupation of, and combinations in, the inside channels.
Using a back 5 in their defensive half, the wider centre backs (Aina and Adarabioyo) occupied the inside channels and directly engaged with any movements inside here. The wider attackers in the 5-2-3 (Decordavo-Reid and Cavaleiro) blocked these channels higher up whilst pressing Spurs’ early build up players. The Fulham wing back usually man orientated with the Spurs full back as well, meaning that combinations within these areas were restricted.
Fulham’s other ball-near players man orientated with the Spurs players in the zone and this discipline restricted Spurs’ ability to advance through the half spaces, and forced them backwards. Playing a back 5 was key here as the middle centre back gives license to the wider centre backs to be aggressive in their positioning.
Fulham successfully blocked these inside channels all night.
Playing a back 5 allows the wider centre backs direct access to the inside channels and they used it to their advantage. This was good from Parker and the roles of each player was clearly defined. The wide centre backs had clarity in their decision making to follow the attackers high in those inside channels - the key was to prevent the turn.
Central compactness
As well as blocking inside channel access, Fulham condensed the middle of the pitch really well from a higher position when the ball was in high central areas with their core of 8 central players usually within half-width of the 18 yard box, leaving only the wing backs slightly wider.
This usually forced Spurs wide with a long diagonal ball, and with the ball being air bound for a good length of time, and with a tricky first touch on receival, this allowed Fulham’s defensive unit to shift across the pitch, and the wing back was then wide enough to engage directly with the full back.
A big theme of Fulham’s approach was to squeeze any space for Spurs’ attackers to turn on the ball in central space - we have seen so many times this season Kane and Ndombele dropping deep to turn, and once they turn they can cause havoc. Fulham were aggressive in stopping this.
High pressure on the build up
As Spurs usually built up with a 3-1 structure, there was an emphasis on the False 9 (Loftus-Cheek) to shuttle between CB and CM (he pressed the CB when he had the ball, and then engaged with the CM when the ball was circulated, making the CB the free man).
The LCM (Decordova-Reid’s) role here was to shuttle to press the LB and then get back into his role in the 5-3-2 shape. This simple strategy limited Spurs fluency in build up. This is where Fulham’s shape flipped between a 5-3-2 and a 5-2-3, depending on Reid’s positioning.
This pattern continued all game and Fulham generally frustrated Spurs’ build up and stopped them from accessing the half spaces, and stopped them from receiving the ball on the turn in the midfield zones. This was particularly effective as the players being pressed (Dier and Hojbjerg) are not the best progressive passers.
Height of the defensive line
As part of stopping players turning, Fulham were prepared to defend high and squeeze the game, dropping off when there was limited pressure on the ball. Generally their spacing and body positions were good (side on, facing outside, ready to drop) and the mobility of all 3 centre backs (Aina, Andersen, Adarabioyo) allowed them to defend aerial balls well.
Fulham’s high line squeezed the game and limited the space for the likes of Kane to drop off the front line and pick up the ball in deeper areas. Instead, Fulham were fairly comfortable with Hojbjerg and Winks being on the ball.
All of these strategies were very effective, however against an elite side, it only takes a couple of seconds to destroy a defensive approach.
Below, we see Fulham’s high line with defenders ready to drop and we see them blocking central access. Being picky, perhaps they are slightly too high as the Spurs player has time on the ball in an optimal location.
Also, Tete’s (RWB) body orientation facing inside is not ideal as he must turn himself outside to engage with Reguillon. There is also an argument that the defensive line is slightly too far to the left, and this extra couple of yards given just enough space to cross.
There was nothing wrong with Fulham’s approach here, however the goal shows that the tiniest of details, mixed in with elite quality, can damage you against the best sides.
Fulham blocked the half spaces well, disrupted the early build up, defended high to squeeze the game and prevent the likes of Kane and Ndombele turning, and compacted the pitch well.
Overall, this was positive and it was possible due to the mobile nature of the Fulham XI. Arguably every single outfield player was mobile enough to cover ground aggressively and the make up of the XI allowed their shape to be malleable and reactive to different scenarios, rather than simply sitting in a deep block.
Fulham defended high and defended aggressively, and were undone by one major. moment of quality